Business Coach Ohio

We Can All Work A Little Smarter

Business Coach Ohio header image 1

Top 10 Successful Business Owner Disciplines: #1

July 29th, 2010 · Uncategorized

 

There is an astonishing place that holds who we are and how we feel.  It remains the most impressive computing device known to humanity.  It is cheap – we all get one.  If scientists we’re able to make something similar – it would have a gigantic manual and a crew of technicians to operate it.  They’d work fulltime on how to get the most use out of it.

We are born with one but we don’t get a manual.  There are thousands of books written on learning to use it – but most of us don’t read a single one.  Most of us fumble about and learn to use it well enough to just get by. Some of us do far worse.  Studying the most successful business owners teaches us how they use theirs; here’s the how and why they work on good thinking.

image

If you agree that you are in charge of your own mind then you agree that you choose your own thoughts.  Choosing your own thoughts means you get to choose among positive thoughts, negative thoughts, angry thoughts and sad thoughts – to name a few.  Since there are always many perspectives, you get to choose positive thoughts or negative thoughts, for example, about everything.  You can choose to think the glass is half full or the glass is half empty.  You can choose to think you have failed at something or that you’ve learned better about how to succeed next time.  Choosing our thoughts is the one and only thing over which we really have control.

image

Your thoughts create your feelings.  If you choose to think negatively you will feel negative feelings.  Here’s an example.  If you try to make a sale and you don’t get the sale you might walk away from the prospect and think “I’m terrible at sales.”  You will then feel bad and you won’t feel like trying to make another sale. 

image

Your negative thinking and subsequent bad feelings have completely sapped your energy.  Your thoughts create your feelings which create your energy.  You can be just as honest with yourself and use positive thoughts to increase your energy.  In the last example you could walk away from the prospect and choose to think “I have a gigantic opportunity to improve at selling.”  While this is roughly the same meaning as “I’m terrible at sales” it leaves you with a whole different feeling.  Say them both out loud and see how you feel. 

image 

Your choice of thoughts determines your feelings and your energy level.  Your energy level is your capacity to act.  If you feel good about yourself you then have energy to take actions that lead to reaching your goals.  If you beat yourself up with negative thinking you drain your energy and are unable to act.  You hide out in your comfort zone.

Really successful people have a natural or learned discipline of thinking positively and seeing opportunities in everything.  Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you will or believe you won’t, you’re right.”   If you want an extreme example of how powerful taking responsibility for your thinking can be then read Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning.  It changed my life and taught me this lesson.  It is still changing my life.

Successful business owners have disciplined thinking and work hardest on improving their thinking.  “To have a better business you need to be a better business person.”  “It is more important to work on yourself than your business” (Jim Rohn). 

The first discipline is the discipline of constantly working and learning to improve your thinking. 

There’s much more to the story – get a book!  I always recommend Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as a starting point. 

I also put on a seminar (in Northeast Ohio) sharing this and many more lessons from successful business owners.  If you are not in Northeast Ohio search actioncoach.com for someone doing the same in your area.

Here’s the link to the updated flier – now it includes comments of current attendees.  Reenergize Your Profits…
Here is a link to a page of comments by current & prior attendees.
"A Slap in the Face". 

I’m off to take advantage of a great opportunity to improve my thinking – how about you?

Read a good book on thinking Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition).

Dennis

→ No CommentsTags:

“Everyone is Leaving Northeast Ohio”

July 14th, 2010 · Fear, Negative Thinking, Positive Thinking

If you are a business owner in Northeast Ohio like I am, then you have had conversations like the one I had yesterday.  Here is what to do about it.

The “things are so bad…” conversation. Yesterday, this well educated and scarily smart business owner leaned closer over the table and whispered, “I think the real unemployment rate in Cleveland is probably over twenty percent.”  He went on to real off a bunch of facts and brutal realities about our area.  He capped it off with, of course, “Lebron really hurt this area.”

Boomtown. I was born in Cleveland and grew up in Elyria.  My father owned a construction company.  He moved us to Elyria in the early 60’s because it was booming.  For a year or two Elyria was the fastest growing city in the entire country.  Northeast Ohio was booming.  People were moving here from everywhere. 

We were at the top then.  We were making cars and steel and tires and machine parts and a whole bunch of other stuff and selling it everywhere.  Cash was being pumped into our region and people were following it.  Houses and schools and malls were being built and jobs were plentiful. 

Are we at the bottom now?  There were some down times between then and now.  The original oil crisis had lines at gas stations we’ve never seen again.  The original financial crisis had the savings and loan collapse and our government bail out plastered on the front pages.  Some say it is worse now.  Some think we are heading for a double dip. 

Boom then bust then?  So what did I say that stopped my friend and changed the nature of the conversation.  “Things come in cycles don’t they?”, I asked.  “You are saying we are at the bottom of the cycle right?  Well, what comes next?”  He brightened up a bit and asked, “So you’re saying we’ve got nowhere to go but up?”

We are in this together.  Belief is one thing action is another.  He sent me an email later on asking me for ideas on how we can help each other make money.  Now we’re talking! 

Action.  Don’t get your hopes up – get into action.  Positive attitude and positive thinking are important.  Positive action is necessary.  What are you willing to do?  Jim Rohn said, “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”  Ghandi said “be the change you want to see in the world.”  How can we be better – each of us has to work on ourselves – then we all become better.

Opportunity.  Here is just one little idea.  Positive cash flow is needed in our area.  Let’s focus on just that.  Companies that sell products and services outside Northeast Ohio bring cash into Northeast Ohio.  Let’s identify these companies and find them some referrals.  If you own such a company tell us about yourself so the rest of us can help you find business.  I just now created a Facebook page for this purpose.  It is http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Refer-NEO/122978311079105?filter=1. Click now  and type in a sentence and a link to your website.  Take just this little action.  Let’s see what we can do together.

Better.  No matter how good we are – we can always be better.  I’m part of an organization dedicated to that belief.  What we’re learning from doing that with 10,000 business every week is available to you too.  Contact me (denniswillis@actioncoach.com).  Here is a link to a few videos of business owners of various size businesses who are succeeding at getting better results http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=actioncoach+testimonial&aq=0.

→ No CommentsTags:

Dennis Willis’s 5 Laws and 3 Caveats for Getting My Business Card at a Networking Event

May 18th, 2010 · Uncategorized

(a happy grab and summarization of all the wisdom from a LinkedIn thread shown below – thank you!)

The 5 Laws

If I give you my card at a networking meeting you would treat me best by:
  1. Asking me if I want to be added to your newsletter/marketing database.

    2. Ask me right then and there or ask me via a personal email or follow up call.  Don’t just assume it is okay.  Doing so without my explicit permission risks offending me.

  2. It is okay, and even impressive to send me a card saying it was nice to meet.
  3. It is okay, and even impressive to call or email me to ask my permission to contact me further or put me in your newsletter and/or marketing db.
  4. It is not okay to pass my card onto anyone else without my explicit persmission.
  5. Following these rules shows you respect me and I will respect you.  It will also keep your marketing db and costs lower.

The 3 Caveats

  1. Not everyone follows these rules – to expect them to do so is unrealistic.  People who don’t follow these rules are often well meaning individuals treating you like they themselves expect to be treated.  An example of where the “Platinum Rule” is better than the “Golden Rule.”  Graciously advise people who violate the rules as to  how you like to be treated.  Don’t publicly flog them – it just makes you look bad. Put repeat violaters in your spam list.
  2. The lessons of “Green Eggs and Ham” still apply – you just have to be more circumspect, personal, polite and patient if your conviction keeps you from understanding or accepting that two letter word.
  3. If I put my card in a fishbowl, enter a contest, sign up for white paper, ebook, whatever then I have given implicit permission for you to “unleash the hounds”.  I do appreciate, however, the additional little checkbox that let’s me have the white paper and still curtail the hounds pursuit.
Please send suggestions or revisions to denniswillis@actioncoach.com.
Dennis

Thanks to Joseph Pucci for this question and thread!

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=18108919&gid=41352&commentID=16481022&trk=view_disc

→ No CommentsTags:

Local Business Owners Get Together to Brainstorm Strategies

March 1st, 2010 · Planning, Process

It can get a little lonely out there can’t it?  So a forward thinking group of business owners and leaders get together periodically to discuss strategies and decide which ones they will focus upon in the near term.

Here is how they do it;

  • First, they take themselves out of the business of the day so they can think without interruption.
  • Second, they put themselves in a comfortable environment where they can relax.
  • Third, they take the simple approach of considering one part of their businesses at a time.
  • Fourth, they get feedback from other attendees on their strategies and give each other new ideas.
  • Fifth,  they write down the strategies they decide to implement in a simple format.

Then they adjourn and look forward to seeing each other again and hearing how things worked out.  Sharing results, strategies and experiences reminds them that they are not alone, that they are, in fact, part of something exciting.

The next get together takes place March 19th. If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of or to just find out a little more – call/text me at 216-965-9129 – before the busyness of the day recaptures you.

→ 2 CommentsTags:

I Didn’t Know the Answer – Do You?

February 8th, 2010 · Planning, Process, Self Mastery

The smart-alec consultant had asked what seemed to be a simple question.  I had just arrived in the meeting room with the rest of the leadership team to find that the owner had hired a quality expert to help us.

I wasn’t happy.

I didn’t think we needed any help.

We were growing and profitable so what was the point, I thought.  I also didn’t like my territory, that of being the smartest guy in the room with all the answers, being infringed upon.  Yes, in hindsight, it is easy to see I was obnoxious.  Then, though, I didn’t see it that way.

I didn’t like being struck dumb by a simple question.  “What is your process?”, he had asked.

So I went on the attack.  “What do you mean by process?”, I frowned and maybe even sneered a bit.

He responded calmly, “I mean by what process do you run your meetings?”

I went for the laugh; “Well we all show up about 1:30…” I raised my eyebrows and stared at the VP of operations who just arrived at his usual 5 minutes late and got a chuckle from the other attendees, “…then,” I went on, “we argue for about an hour and a half,” which got another chuckle, “leave and go back to doing what we would have done anyway.”  That got another chuckle, well, except from the boss.  “Do you think,” I asked, “we should change it?”  Now that got a real laugh.  Even the consultant broke a smile.

In spite of my skepticism, in the back of my mind I realized I was already learning something.  Having voiced it, I was pretty sure we had a process that could be improved.  I was pretty sure it would be good for us.  I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like it.

I’m not, by nature, a big fan of rules.  Back then, I even detested the idea of keeping a schedule.  The good way, somebody else found to do something, was exactly how I would not do it.  I would do it my own way.  I was the consummate re-inventor of wheels.  Sometimes they worked better, sometimes.  Often, I now realize, I just wasted a bunch of time getting a result I could have gotten a lot faster if I hadn’t been so focused on what I wanted to do.

This attitude cost me a bunch of time and money.  I realized, at some point, that I had to learn better.  So I went to work on me.

In a few short sentences I can share what took me a bit longer to understand.  I learned there was a better question for me to ask myself before I started the “doing” part of accomplishing something.  Instead of asking myself “What do I want to do?”, I learned to ask myself first, “What do I want to have?”  There were some things, I realized, I really wanted to have.

It’s like when I was a little kid, I really wanted a custom made chassis for my slot car.  In order to have it there was no question that I would have to do some things I really didn’t want to do.  I didn’t want to have to walk around, knock on doors and ask folks if I could cut thier lawns.  I did it, though, and I got the new chassis I wanted to have.  I knocked on forty doors and cut twenty lawns to get it.  In the middle, one guy showed me how to sharpen my blade so I could cut faster.  I didn’t care about doing it my way, I copied his method because I just wanted to get those lawns cut as fast as possible to get what I wanted to have.

To get what I wanted to have there were some things I had to do that I didn’t want to do.  To get them accomplished faster I had to be someone who listened to what others had to say.  I wonder how, as an accomplished adult, I forgot this simple reality.

Back to business; I learned to ask, “What do I want to have?”, “What will be my process for getting it? and, “Who do I have to be to do those things?”.  Set a goal, have a plan and take time to sharpen the saw.

Now I take time to make my plan, track my progress and continuously work to improve my self.  These were not in my nature.  I had to learn how to do these things.  There are some things I want to improve in my life and some things I want to have.  I’ve learned to work on being clear about those things.

There are good techniques for getting clear about what-you-want-to-have and for planning to get them that I’ve learned from others along the way.  If you don’t have a planning process that would be a great start.  If you have a process they would be a great way to improve it further.

We help business owners work through reviewing their business using a well proven process.  We help them take the results of the review and prioritize what they want to work on improving.  We help them get it down on a simple plan they can follow to get what they want to have.  You can’t go to far ahead because things change so fast.  That’s why we do  this every quarter.  Check the sidebar for the next planning date (or click here).  We call it GrowthCLUB.  It’s about the growth of your business and the growth of yourself as a business leader.  It is a club because you’ll be helping and learning from other business owners who are growing their businesses.

Maybe you’ll have a better answer to “What is your process?” for getting what you want out of life then I did back then.

→ 1 CommentTags:

What Does Your Business Want for Christmas?

December 14th, 2009 · Uncategorized

I’m calling businesses close to me to find out what they want for Christmas and for 2010.

I think, relying upon the “6 Degrees of Separation” concept, we can all help them get it.  Whether it is more referrals, someone with a specific skill set or information on how to seize a particular opportunity – the answers they need are within our reach!  Let’s prime the pump for local companies!

Bruce Ramsey of Mel-Ba Manufacturing in Elyria, Ohio wants referrals to military parts suppliers.

Bobby Colagross of Awesome Wares, in Avon, Ohio wants you to have great branded gifts to give to your clients.

Aaron Baaske of Medway Corp. of Amherst, Ohio wants more people to realize they have a better choice than the drug store seat riser.

Terry, Ed & Nancy, three of the family members at Stewart’s Appliance and Electronics in Elyria want folks to know that they are part of a billion dollar buying group and have better prices than the big box stores.   They want you to enjoy your shopping experience, get a better deal, better pricing and learn why Stewart’s customers won’t go anywhere else.

Tina Hobart at Zaytran in Elyria, Ohio would like to see a pickup in the automotive business so they can get everybody back to work.  Their work grippers have applications in many industries – check them out!

More to come…

→ No CommentsTags:

“I Crushed Fear from Every Part of My Life”

November 5th, 2009 · Fear, Self Mastery, Uncategorized

I called up one of my mentors within ActionCOACH because over past two years he has risen to the top 10 in our global rankings.  Considering that we are approaching 1500 coaching offices in over 25 countries, being in the top 10 is pretty darn good.  Fewer than 1% of our coaches make this list.

Chuck Kocher is an outgoing guy who was an executive in the information industry before he found his calling in business coaching.  He was very successful when I met him three years ago  and I can’t say I’m surprised at how high he has risen in the rankings.  ActionCOACH does a great job of tracking our coaches and publicizing the really successful ones.

The steps they’ve taken to get to the top get are shared and they, I expect, get bombarded with calls from other coaches who are trying to learn from the best of the best.  I was one of those callers.

We updated each other on what’s been happening and then I got to ask my question; “Chuck, what has made the biggest difference for you in your rise to the top?”  Without hesitation he gave me an answer that stunned me; “I crushed fear from every part of my life.”

It is an answer that has been stuck in my head for the better part of a month.

First, Chuck is not a guy with whom you would associate the word fear.  Second, fear and it’s silent partner; stress, have been showing up on my radar screen a lot lately.  In trying to understand how big a part fear plays in our life and how someone like Chuck can find and crush it from every part of his life I’ve learned some tricks which we play on ourselves.

We Hide Our Fears We don’t like to admit to fear so we hide it behind other emotions and words.  If something makes us jump back – we call it being startled.  Then we usually laugh it off or get angry at what startled us.  We say we “don’t like” networking when we are afraid being in a group of people we don’t know.  We say  we “don’t like” public speaking when we are simply afraid.  We often call fear being “nervous” or being “anxious”.   We say we “don’t like” cold calling when we are afraid of rejection.

Fear is healthy Fear is a healthy thing and we have substantial systems for dealing with things of which we should be afraid.  It is a good thing to be afraid of stepping in front of an onrushing bus.  Just thinking about doing such an ill-advised action should raise fear and stress in your mind and body.

Fear is unhealthy Fear causes stress.  Stress kills.  Stress shortens our lifespan.  Stress impairs our immune system.  Simply another case of too much of a good thing is a bad bad thing.

Fear is over supplied Our system of laws, safety regulations and cultural discouragement of personal violence have left us with, compared to our ancestors, very few real threats to our physical well being.  Lions, tigers and bears, gun fights, fisticuffs, sword fights or karate battles are far more the subject of fiction than our lives.  We seem to be left with a high capacity to feel fear and extremely reduced set of things to be feared.  Our fear systems don’t have much to do and so now apply themselves to things that can’t actually hurt us.  It is actually more dangerous to hunt for game in the woods with a sharp stick than make cold calls even though your stomach may tell you differently.

Courage is acting even though you are afraid It takes courage to overcome fear.  I’ve come to understand “crushing fear” as doing the things you are avoiding because of fear and doing them over and over until you no longer feel the fear.  I used to be extraordinarily afraid of public speaking.  I’ve now done it so much that I find it fun and look for opportunities to do it more.  People who knew me 10 years ago would be shocked.  One fear crushed – more to go.

Fear is a guide Do what you are afraid of doing.  I am working to increase my awareness of unfounded fears.  Unfounded fears lead me to avoiding things that I need to do.  In this way fear is a compass of what I need to do to become successful.  If you follow this advice make sure you respect well founded fears like stepping in front of a bus.  Disrespect the unfounded ones.

Fear and Stress I recently viewed a show on PBS entitled “Killer Stress.”  It was a big influence on this writing.  Here is a link to the show description (“Killer Stress”) and here is a link to a blog about the show (“Blog: How your baboon of a boss is killing you”).  Looking in to these will convince you to crush fear and lower your stress level and thereby become a better business person.

→ No CommentsTags:

Ruthless, Intolerant & Demanding

July 14th, 2009 · Positive Thinking, Self Mastery

To have real fun, there are a few things you must do. Here they are;

  1. Be ruthless with your time.
  2. Be intolerant of your fears and weaknesses.
  3. Be demanding of yourself.

Business (and maybe, life) is about the great feeling of accomplishment, not the temporary good feelings you get from self indulgence. One cannot be taken away, the other leaves as quickly as it arrived.  How much of your enjoyment is from things that can never be taken from you?

Money can be frittered away or it can be invested.  The same is true for you. A great investment grows daily.  Are you growing daily?  How are you better today than yesterday?

Sometimes I become completely fed up with myself. I discover I’ve just spent time being distracted or avoiding something I could have been doing that gets me closer to what I want to have.  Minutes, even hours, gone from life forever.  I’ve learned not to spend time dwelling on past poor decisions.  That’s wasting time over wasting time.

I’ve learned I have to invest time in staying focused. I review my goals, I plan my time.  I work on improving my moment to moment awareness – so I realize more quickly when I am off track or distracted.  I work on improving my thinking so I am not uselessly reworking the past.  I cut the anchor by taking my learnings and moving on.

It’s what you say to yourself, about yourself, when you are by yourself that hits home. Our brains are capable of great change.  We’ve all heard about people sustaining great brain damage and using a different part of their brain to relearn necessary skills – talking, for example.  You don’t need trauma to change, committment works as well.  Part of learning to be who you desire to be is telling yourself who you are in the process of becoming.

This is what I have learned to say to myself, about myself, when I am by myself. They are part of my twice daily recitation of my “I am” statements.  Yes, I have learned to be careful and deliberate about what I say to myself.  You should too.  If you can’t say them in the present tense and beleive them from yourself then use the phrasing “I am becoming…”.

  • I am ruthless with my time.
  • I am intolerant of my fears and weaknesses.
  • I am demanding of my best effort.

I do this because there are things I want to have in my life. To have what I want to have, I must be the person I want to be and do the things I need to do.  What do you want to have?  Who do you need to be to have that?  What do you need to do to have that?

The great acheivers in our history books, our newscasts and even in our sports pages all want to have acheived something. They did what they needed to do and became who they needed to become to have those achievements and the rewards that came with them.  What acheivements do you want to have accomplished?  What rewards do you want?

→ 1 CommentTags:

Fear

June 24th, 2009 · Fear, Negative Thinking, Positive Thinking, Self Mastery

Fear doesn’t grip your heart.  It is your heart that grips fear.

Fear is an ancient protector of our very skin from physical threat.  An ancient savior that has become a crippling nuisance when we need, for example, to speak publicly.  Fear has become a brain cramp when we try to talk to someone we find attractive.  It’s become a liability in our professional lives preventing us from picking up a phone to call a prospect.  It is as if fear has caused the phone to weigh ten thousand pounds.

Perhaps, in our bones, we still carry the old knowing that standing out in the crowd can attract a watching predator or a that approaching a potential mate can attract a violent competitor.  Odds are pretty slim, today, that you’ll be eaten or beaten for letting your light shine bright.  Few, however, do.

To shine you must relax your grip on fear.  Simple.  Really.  I’m serious.

It is a simple thing to start running fear out of your life.  You accept the fact that you use thoughts to drive up your fear.  You become aware of when you have such thoughts.  You replace them with other thoughts.  Repeat until fear is at a useful level.

Fire yourself up instead of beating yourself up. Negative thoughts are self demolition and work hand in hand with fear.  We lead our self to self – paralysis with this one-two punch combination.  Negative thoughts leave you feeling more vulnerable to potential predators and competitors.

The good news, you deal with your own negativity the same way you deal with your own fear.  Positive, courageous thoughts grow positive and courageous lives for ourselves.  Start listening to yourself.  Start upgrading your thoughts.  Start choosing to feel joyful instead of fearful.

Start talking to yourself positively.  Stop talking to yourself negatively and fearfully.  Here’s how.

1) Planned self talk.
2) Planned self listening.
3) Planned pattern interruption.

Now, here are the details.

1) Planned self talk.

Say good things to yourself out loud at least twice a day.   Listen to yourself and repeat so that you believe them.  Come up with a list of 20 things to say.  You must start them with “I am.”
Say things like:
I am in a state of joy.
I am happy.  OR  I am in the process of becoming happy.

2) Planned self listening.

Listen to your thoughts and write down the negative and fearful ones.
Categorize them.  Below are three links to articles on categorizing negative and fearful thinking. Create challenges and/or replacements.  Suggestions on how to do this are also in the articles below.

3) Planned pattern interruption.

Catch yourself talking yourself down or scaring yourself.  Stop yourself.  Substitute your challenges or replacements and feel better.Catch yourself saying to yourself “I’m horrible at  ____________” and simply think (and say) “I have an opportunity to be better at ____________.”

A simple process.  Now you have a simple choice.  To live in fear or joy.  I hope you pick the latter and start talking yourself up.

Articles
http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=empower_negativethinkingWS
http://els4kids.blogspot.com/2008/12/automatic-negative-thoughts-ants-ideas.html
http://www.byui.edu/CounselingCenter/Stress%20Management/Challenging%20Distorted%20Thinking.htm

→ No CommentsTags: